Saturday, October 31, 2009

Well, yippee kai yay little doggies! I just had the good fortune of spending five days in France (mostly in Paris but 36 hours in Normandy as well)...and once again had a wonderful time...Paris is all at once wonderful and horrific...the food, landscape and setting is the former and the traffic, signage and expense the latter...but I for one want to go on record and give you my view of our dear French friends...

...I really don't know where the French and the American relationship went astray...because it really has been my experience in a few visits to France that we have more common interests than differences...and that we have many reasons to want to get along...OK now don't go getting your coullotesin a bunch...because I know there are some legitimate points of disagreement...but all in all I actually enjoy the French a great deal...and here are just a few reasons why:

1) They are really really smart. I have had the opportunity to speak to some French and let me just say that they are well educated, articulate, thoughtful and earnest. And I really enjoy being around smart people.

2) They enjoy a high quality of life. From their roads (sans litter!) to their cuisine to their bike share program to their monuments and common areas, they really have got it going on. Now, I know what is paying for all of this, but let me observe that the results are c'est magnifique.)3) They know their history. I didn't say it was all worth knowing, but there is really an appreciation for the past in France, and how it has meaning (good and bad) for the present and the future. We could really use more of this attitude in the states.

4) They appreciate respect, civility and courtesy. There are times in France that I am really struck with how it reminds me of my grandparents treated conversations and discussions (albeit from Portugal and not France). But there was a level of honest inquiry, the process having value and not only the answers, a willingness to listen and to argue points fairly, and do this with a sense of dignity that I don't often see in America.

Now before you go getting all worried about me packing it in and moving to "gay Paree" there really are too many obstacles in life (way too many) to get me to ever consider such an action...but my trip there has once again left me with a deep personal impression that there is much we need to learn in the States...and yes, we do a great many things well but some things certainly need improvement...and it has been a good reminder to me of some quality of life issues I need to think deeply upon...it has been a good trip so far...and I look forward to a return in the next year or so...and a desire to travel to the country more beyond Paris...

...So what was I doing in Paris?...well, I was asked by some dear friends who have lived there for many years if I would come and speak on entrepreneurship...and they have formed a wonderful new association called Coherence...see http://coherenceparis.com/... so let me impress you now with the title of my remarks:

L’entrepreneur aujourd’hui :évolution, défis et opportunités

So I will be posting my lectures for you on this site...if you want to read more...but for now I will simply say au revoir!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

So there I sat watching CNBC talking about how the price of gold took a big ol' jump...tickling $1050 bucks an ounce...and I am thinking about those gold crowns the little lady is wearing...and...ummm....well not really...and so what pops up on the internet?...that the Prez wins the Nobel Peace Prize! Wow!...so once I realize that I haven't gotten up too early and that this isn't really Mad TV and Stuart in his jockey shorts in trouble again...and I realize it has really happened...I cannot tell you the full sense of my joy in this award to a sitting American President!

And with full respect to our President the Nobel folks say that he had no knowledge of the nomination and that actually didn't call him from Sweden (or was it Turkmenistan?)...and wake him up...because we know he needs and deserves a full night of shut-eye...and they soon announce that he is humbled by the award...and will donate the proceeds to charity...what a giver this guy is!

...I don't know about you but the Nobel Prizes and the Olympic Gold Prizes are just about the top of everything...holding kind of a mystique like JFK and World War II...but they really outdid theirselves this time! Wow!

...So I am thinking that they must have made a bit of a mistake...cause President Clinton and Hillary have been traipsing around the world for nearly 20 years campaigning for a "legacy"...and I would have thought all of those trips and summits would have counted for something...so maybe they were really awarding it to the Clintons...kind of viewing him all of them collectively...you know like the old Three Dog Night song "Black and White"...what? you don't remember it? Here you go...

...but let me warn you that this version is the spiffed up one...because when they really did this song in the 1970's it was under the influence of pretty much everything they could find....and consume...

...but I guess that kind of makes my point that everything gets kind of spiffed up when it comes to Mr. Prez...because no one really wants to talk too much about Chicago politics...from whence he came...

...but anyway...once I realized that the Nobel Prize has kind of fallen a bit in status in the last day or two...because under the terms of the nomination they officially closed 12 days after Mr. Prez took office...and we all know that in those 12 days he had accomplished a lot...like...ummm...he boldly...talked...and spoke...and had some photos...and....well...ummmm...

...So now I think the mystique...the prestige...the brand power... of the Nobel is in my mind right there with...say...

...I want you to know that I hold that little fellow in the highest of regard!...and the picture of the medal above? You don't recognize it?...well it actually is the Nobel Peace Prize...but it is the backside of the prize...seriously...and so I close with that thought...the three people hugging each other...embracing the world...and all us getting the backside...

Friday, October 2, 2009

...Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away On my way to where the air is sweet!...boy oh boy oh boy have I had a couple of great days...no, not flying with our dear Prez. to Europe to pitch Chicago as the next Olympic venue...nope, didn't get a Nobel Prize nomination...and missed the lottery again..but I couldn't eat for 36 hours and I got a colonoscopy! Yipee!!...and when you hear from the dear ol' doc that you have a "perfect colon" it really makes it all worthwhile...makes me just want to run out and rear up and click my heels....but if I did so you better not stand too close...

...Boy is there a lot going on in the world!...and I had the opportunity to travel to Oxford University, which was quite nice...there is an awful lot to like about the Brits...first there is the public transportation system...reliable and inexpensive...and then there are the lovely towns and buildings...walking around ChristChurch College in Oxford was just incredible in the fall with the flowers still in bloom and the lawns perfectly striped...and then there is...ummm...there is....ummm....ehhh....oh yeah....they have the Beatles...well I guess not really...they only have Paul and Ringo...and I think Ringo lives in El Lay to avoid taxes....but as I was saying...everytime I travel to England it helps me understand how the whole Colonial thing got going here a couple of hundred years ago...I mean, they still cannot make a salad!...toilets?...they use 8 gallons to flush and make more noise than a Oster blender grinding on ball bearings...so much for going green...

...But I did enjoy myself and attended a conference at the Said School of Business and met some fine people...and walked a great deal...and hope to go again...but next time I will bring my own salad dressing....

...Wow! What a great couple of months for the stock market! Happy days are here again!...Let's pass a trillion dollar health bill!...Yippee!!...

...Well maybe not...sorry...but I have to tell you I am really concerned about just a couple of things...well, maybe a couple of hundred things in this economy...let's start with the lack of small business capital access and a looming tax increase that will crush thousands of entrepreneurs...the exact thing our Prez and Congress need to be helping right now...but the only stimulus package that appears to be heading down the pike is similar to the one I have just experienced at the doctor this morning....ouch!...and that employment remains tepid at the best...consumer confidence stinks......and what ofthe GE dumping NBC?...what does that tell you about their view of the future of mainstream entertainment for the next five years?...does GE need cash that bad to sell one of their jewels at this time when deals are so depressed?...makes one think that GE may be wanting to build more cash than they were thinking a year or so ago...and they already have lots of cash....

....and we have idiots in Iran and North Korea that appear to be smarter than us in foreign policy...should I continue? It just feels to me like business is so hunkered down right now that the stock market gains of the past few months are just the calm ahead of the storm...and I really fear it is going to be another big storm...especially if the commercial real estate meltdown occurs...butgood thing we flew Air Force 1 across the pond to pitch the Olympics to Chicago..... I wonder what other sports they could introduce if they IOOC would have placed it in Chicago...maybe gang wars...knife fights....political corruption...perhaps Acorn could have been the organizing Committee as they have done so well in other areas....

...which I think is the real wild card in this whole economy...and while so far the banks, REIT's, developers and government have been content to "kick the can down the road" there is only so much road to walk down before you hit a river, wall or pile of...ummm....manure....and while commercial real estate doesn't touch the homeowner's and ordinary consumer in quite the same way as residential real estate...it still is a much bigger thing than most of us think...and makes me glad that I am not over-invested in the stock market at this point...no more than 20% of my liquidity are in stocks...and I am sleeping better because of it...